Brand aversion


Brand aversion is an antonym of brand loyalty. It is a distrust or a dislike of products from a particular brand on the basis of past experiences with that brand and its products, similar to taste aversion.
Brand aversion can be the effect of obtrusive marketing strategies, bad press, a mass product recall, or other poor product launches.
Psychologically, the reasons for brand aversion have been explained by the attachment-aversion model using the same three dimensions that characterize a product:
  1. enticing/annoying the self
  2. enabling/disabling the self and
  3. enriching/impoverishing the self.
The more annoying/disabling/impoverishing a brand "feels", the more aversion will be produced and vice versa. As is the case with all brands, the conceived qualities need neither correspond to real assets nor shortcomings.